Each year the Baseball Writers Association of America
names a Most Valuable Player (MVP) in each league.
To date, no Mets player has ever received this honor.
The closest they ever came was in 1988, when
Darryl Strawberry
might very well have won the award, but a strong season by teammate
Kevin McReynolds
effectively split the "Mets vote" and resulted in a victory for the
Los Angeles Dodgers' Kirk Gibson.
There were other second place finishes.
In 1969, during his first Cy Young season, Mets ace pitcher
Tom Seaver
finished second to Willie McCovey of the San Francisco Giants. First
baseman and team leader
Keith Hernandez
was considered a candidate in 1984, but as the Mets finished second to the
Chicago Cubs in the standings,
Hernandez finished second to Cub secondbaseman Ryne Sandberg in the MVP
balloting.